2025Swiss Post’s Commitment to Art - Sheetlets

When Europe made a pact
100 years ago, Europe’s major powers met to draw up the Locarno Pact. In this anniversary year, we are celebrating the symbolism of peaceful politics. Delegates from Germany, Italy, France, Great Britain, Belgium, Poland and the former Czechoslovakia convened in Locarno in October 1925 to negotiate on European security issues. The result of the 12 day conference was the Locarno Pact, a series of treaties that were later signed in London. The agreements includ- ed a guarantee that Germany, France and Belgium would not use force to change the national borders set out in the Treaty of Versailles. Great Britain and Italy, meanwhile, pledged to provide military support if this agreement was violated. In addition, Germany was accepted into the League of Nations, officially joining in 1926. Now, in the anniversary year, Locarno’s Mayor Nicola Pini has emphasized the significance of those negotiations: “The Locarno Pact was a historic moment of fundamental importance forour city and the whole of Europe. It is a symbol of cooperation and international diplomacy.”